The New Jersey Devils are reportedly interested in multiple players from the Vancouver Canucks including Conor Garland and Brock Boeser. These two teams might make sense for a hockey trade since it’s likely both teams are going to miss the playoffs. They both have significant young pieces and expect to make the postseason. Maybe putting some of those players in a change of scenery makes the most sense.
A lot of the usual suspects are mentioned in a “change of scenery” type trade. Pavel Zacha has been reportedly tied to the Canucks by multiple sources. Maybe Damon Severson is a player the Canucks would target. There are other players and prospects that probably interest both sides. One player who has been recently tied to the trade is Ty Smith.
Smith is having a rough sophomore season, but he’s still just 21 years old (22 by the end of the month). He was just called the best defensive rookie in the entire league last season. While he finished seventh in Calder Trophy voting, he was ahead of every other defenseman.
Now, it seems like the Devils fanbase is turning on Smith a little bit. It’s not terribly surprising. The world wants to know what they’ve done for us lately, and outside of his most recent game, Smith hasn’t done much. He is having an issue with mistakes, and the mistakes have too often led to goals.
Is that a reason to send Smith to another team already?
The report came from a list by Canucks reporter with The Athletic Thomas Drance put together of defensemen the Canucks could target. He said the Canucks checked in on Smith, and some in the organization “quite admire” him as a defenseman target. It’s not like the Devils are sending Smith away for pieces. We are talking about Garland or Boeser here. These are players that could help the Devils for a long time.
This would be a great option for the Devils if they are going to lose Smith. They need something incredible if they lose Smith at this point. He’s not worth letting go just to do it. Again, he’s 22 years old. Losing him at this point would hurt, but turning it into 25-year-old Brock Boeser would make a lot of sense for where the Devils want to be. It might be more expensive in the long run, but there are reasons to like the idea of it even if there’s risk involved.